Engineering Commons^™

Specification And Implementation Of Arm Isa Using Adl, Jonathan A. Rabideau

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this project, we implement a specification of ARM ISA using the ADL system. Current progress includes 79% of planned instructions, 79% of which are complete for our purposes, and also includes components such as a proxy kernel and a temporary preprocessor. Simple programs compiled directly from gcc can already be properly assembled and simulated using the tools generated by ADL. Once the specification is complete, we can integrate it with other components for testing ideas and theories. This report covers our progress and future plans regarding this project, including some background material and problem solutions.

Heating Capacity And Biocompatibility Of Hybrid Nanoparticles For Magnetic Hyperthermia Treatment, Aline Alexandrina Gomes, Thalita Marcolan Valverde, Vagner De Oliveira Machado, Emanueli Do Nascimento Da Silva, Daniele Alves Fagundes, Fernanda De Paula Oliveira, Erico Freitas, José Domingos Ardisson, José Maria Da Fonte Ferreira, Junnia Alvarenga De Carvalho Oliveira, Eliza Rocha Gomes, Caio Fabrini Rodrigues, Alfredo Miranda De Goes, Rosana Zacarias Domingues, Ângela Leão Andrade

Michigan Tech Publications

Cancer is one of the deadliest diseases worldwide and has been responsible for millions of deaths. However, developing a satisfactory smart multifunctional material combining different strategies to kill cancer cells poses a challenge. This work aims at filling this gap by developing a composite material for cancer treatment through hyperthermia and drug release. With this purpose, magnetic nanoparticles were coated with a polymer matrix consisting of poly (L-co-D,L lactic acid-co-trimethylene carbonate) and a poly(ethylene oxide)–poly(propylene oxide)–poly(ethylene oxide) triblock copolymer. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and selected area electron diffraction confirmed magnetite to be the only iron oxide in the sample. Cytotoxicity …

Climate-Influenced Phenology Of Larval Fish Transport In A Large Lake, Spencer T. Gardner, Mark D. Rowe, Pengfei Xue, Xing Zhou, Peter J. Alsip, David B. Bunnell, Paris D. Collingsworth, Edward S. Rutherford, Tomas O. Höök

Michigan Tech Publications

Elucidating physical transport phenologies in large lakes can aid understanding of larval recruitment dynamics. Here, we integrate a series of climate, hydrodynamic, biogeochemical, and Lagrangian particle dispersion models to: (1) simulate hatch and transport of fish larvae throughout an illustrative large lake, (2) evaluate patterns of historic and potential future climate-induced larval transport, and (3) consider consequences for overlap with suitable temperatures and prey. Simulations demonstrate that relative offshore transport increases seasonally, with shifts toward offshore transport occurring earlier during relatively warm historic and future simulations. Intra- and inter-annual trends in transport were robust to assumed pelagic larval duration and …

V2i-Based Adaptive Collision Avoidance For Safety And Traffic Efficiency, Vaishnavi Balambeed

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To leverage the growing communication and connectivity among modern vehicles, Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) systems are increasingly being used to implement active safety applications. However, current research often overlooks the impact of algorithms such as collision avoidance on traffic flow efficiency. This work investigates the adaptation of a collision avoidance algorithm implemented in V2I to incorporate a variable time headway and spacing control strategy. The proposed approach aims to maintain higher average speeds among vehicles, lower individual vehicle’s waiting, and travel times in the vicinity of the infrastructural unit while simultaneously avoiding collisions; thereby enhancing both safety and traffic …

Molecular Modeling Of Phenolic Resin For Carbon-Carbon Composites, Ivan Gallegos

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

One of the most difficult challenges associated with space exploration is terrestrial atmospheric reentry due to the high thermal loads generated. Carbon carbon (C/C) composites have been used as heat shielding materials due to their high strengthto- weight ratio and thermal properties and their applications include heat shielding for various high temperature environments. C/C composites are manufactured by polymer-infiltration pyrolysis (PIP) via cycles of curing and pyrolysis of a prepreg which can be costly and take up to several days. Thus, C/C composites ideal candidates for computationally-driven optimization techniques, such as a multiscale Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) approach, by …

F-Temper Vs O-Temper Brazing Of 3003 Aluminum Return Bends, Mieka R. Clark

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As-extruded (F-temper) 3003 return bends can provide cost savings over annealed (O-temper) return bends in aluminum heat exchangers. To assess if F-temper return bends are an alternative to the baseline O-temper bends, the grain structure, bending performance, and melting behavior were assessed through:

• Quantifying the effect of dispersoids on recrystallization
• Tracking bending behavior through grain morphology and surface texture
• Measuring the number and volume fraction of the α-Al(Mn,Fe)Si intermetallic
• Inducing incipient melting through high temperature thermal exposure.

When homogenized at 620°C and 630°C, the F-temper bends had no orange peel texture, the grain size was equivalent to the annealed product, …

Improving Cast Steel Rail Coupler Fatigue Resistance Through Local Wire-Arc Additive Manufacturing, Andrew M. Bunge

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Every year, thousands of cast-steel railcar couplers suffer from corrosion-initiated fatigue cracking in similar areas of the coupler’s knuckle; between 2015 and 2018 about 90,000 knuckles were replaced, otherwise these couplers would have been at risk for unexpected failures. These types of couplers have been common in industrial use as early as 1932, hence it is desirable for a countermeasure to the fatigue cracking that does not involve significantly altering the geometry or casting process. Wire arc additive manufacturing (WAM) is a developing technology which boasts the ability to produce complex near-net-shape components; however, less attention has been paid to …

A Physical Test Artifact For Evaluating Edge Cases Of Individual And Fused Automated Driving Perception Sensors, Colin Schaefer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

With the advent of technologies to support autonomous vehicles (AVs), the number of different AV models from a variety of companies and organizations has proliferated. With this increase in options comes the need to physically evaluate their perception systems. However, there is a lack of standard methods to physically evaluate these perception systems. A set of test artifacts can be used to compare the performances of perception systems, but the artifacts must be usable with different types of perception sensors and various sensor fusion systems. This thesis presents the development of an artifact that injects edge case scenarios into the …

High Temperature Strength Reduces Soldering In Aluminum High Pressure Die Casting, Jacob A. Belke

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Die soldering, an adhesion defect in high pressure die casting (HPDC), is a symptom of localized sticking where a localized portion of the cast material is adhered to the tooling surface causing build up over time. This requires the tooling to be serviced which incurs additional costs to the process that gets passed on to the parts. Historically, soldering has been mitigated using lubricants, coatings, and alloy chemistry modifications but solder persists.

The Tresca friction thermomechanical model suggests soldering occurs when the local interfacial shear stress between the casting and die surface exceeds the local shear strength of the casting. …

Machine Learning For Electronic Structure Prediction, Shashank Pathrudkar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Kohn-Sham density functional theory is the work horse of computational material science research. The core of Kohn-Sham density functional theory, the Kohn-Sham equations, output charge density, energy levels and wavefunctions. In principle, the electron density can be used to obtain several other properties of interest including total potential energy of the system, atomic forces, binding energies and electric constants. In this work we present machine learning models designed to bypass the Kohn-Sham equations by directly predicting electron density. Two distinct models were developed: one tailored to predict electron density for quasi one-dimensional materials under strain, while the other is applicable …

Forecasting Of The Next Three (3) Decades Global Lithium Demand And Pricing Using Multivariate Stochastic Model., Enoch Nii- Okai

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is pivotal in achieving global climate goals, with nations aiming to integrate a significant portion of new passenger vehicles as electric by 2030. This shift towards electric mobility includes a notable rise in battery-electric, plug-in hybrid, and fuel-cell electric vehicles to curb carbon emissions and foster sustainable transportation. Central to this transition is the critical role of lithium, often referred to as the "white gold of the 21st century," in electric vehicle batteries, especially rechargeable lithium-ion batteries renowned for their high energy efficiency, density, and durability. While lithium has historically found extensive use across …

Study Of Nanoparticle Dispersed Phase Change Materials And The Impact Of Temperature Gradient On The Potential For Particle Migration, Udit Sharma

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Supercooling in phase change materials (PCMs) and the associated challenges in enhancing thermal conductivity through nanoparticle dispersion prompted this investigation. Existing literature exhibits inconsistencies in thermal conductivity improvements, suggesting a potential correlation with nanoparticle migration induced by thermophoresis. To address this, a novel temperature-dependent scaling parameter, \(\xi\), was introduced to predict particle migration propensity. A strong association was observed between higher \(\xi\) values and diminished thermal conductivity enhancements, indicating a significant influence of nanoparticle movement on heat transfer.

To further elucidate this relationship, a Nanoparticle Interaction Parameter \(N_\text{{pl}}\) was developed, incorporating critical fluid properties and interfacial effects. The derived critical …

An Elasto-Plastic Constitutive Model With Phase-Field Fracture For Additively Manufactured Metallic Materials, Nolan Ruble

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM), commonly known as 3D printing, has revolutionized the production of metallic components across various industries. This technology, which builds objects layer by layer, has shifted paradigms in manufacturing, allowing for unprecedented design freedom, material efficiency, and rapid prototyping. Metal additive manufacturing, in particular, has shown remarkable promise due to its ability to produce complex geometries that are difficult or impossible to achieve with traditional subtractive methods. In addition, additively manufactured (AM) materials are gaining popularity in thanks to their often superior and controllable properties in comparison to their wrought counterparts. In the present work, …

Performance Characterization And Optimization Of A Point-Cloud-Based Path Planner In Off-Road Terrains, Casey D. Majhor

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

In this dissertation, I present a multifaceted study on the generation of artificial terrains using a multifractal method, and their use in autonomous ground vehicle (AGV) planning and navigation performance characterization in high-fidelity simulations, and automated parameter optimization.

My first contribution is a multifractal artificial terrain generation method leveraging the 3D Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function to control terrain roughness. We generate 60 unique off-road terrains while varying the fractal dimension and test the impact on vehicle traversal difficulty. Results show that increasing the fractal dimension decreases low-roughness areas, increases semi-rough and high-roughness areas, and decreases vehicle success rates while increasing vertical accelerations, …

Modeling Pulsatile Flows Using Truly Incompressible Finite Volume Lattice Boltzmann Model, Akshay S. Dongre

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The present study addresses the compressibility error inherent in the standard Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) and LBM’s restriction to uniform Cartesian meshes. To mitigate the compressibility error, an incompressible LBM (iLBM) model has been incorporated into the finite volume framework using a cell-centered finite volume approach, leveraging the simplicity of the LBM algorithm for irregularly shaped flow domains with unstructured meshes. Monotonic Upstream-centered Scheme for Conservation Laws (MUSCL) and linear reconstruction (LR) schemes have been used to compute convective fluxes across the cell interfaces with boundary conditions implemented using the second-order accurate Non-Equilibrium Extrapolation (NEE) method.

The finite volume iLBM …

Sustainable Materials For Environment − Multifunctional Material Made From Dead Leaves And Nanostructured Materials For Antibiotic Degradation, Siyuan Fang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

As environmental pollution from industrial processes and human activities continues to rise, finding efficient approaches to recycle waste materials and degrade persistent contaminants becomes increasingly critical. Dead leaves, an abundant but underutilized biomass, present an opportunity for creating value-added materials if their biocomponents can be preserved and transformed. Simultaneously, antibiotics such as tetracycline are widely found in water bodies but pose serious ecological and health risks, necessitating effective degradation methods. This dissertation addresses these challenges by leveraging natural and nanostructured materials to develop multifunctional products and advanced photocatalytic processes.

Chapter 3 of this dissertation addresses the challenge of converting waste …

Phase Field Modeling Of Fracture And Phase Separation Using Numerical Methods And Machine Learning, Revanth Mattey

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Phase field modeling is a crucial tool in scientific and engineering disciplines due to its ability to simulate complex phenomena like phase transitions, interface dynamics, and pattern formation. It plays a vital role in understanding material behavior during processes such as solidification, phase separation, and fracture mechanics. Particularly in fracture mechanics, phase field modeling can be utilized to predict the crack path in complex materials. Understanding the failure behavior is vital for applications of any material. The specific contributions to the field of phase field fracture mechanics, are, Firstly, we propose a novel phase field fracture model to simulate the …

Valorization Of Spent Vetiver Roots For Biochar Generation, Sameer Neve, Dibyendu Sarkar, Manas Warke, Teresa Bandosz, Rupali Datta

Michigan Tech Publications

Vetiver root is widely used to produce essential oils in the aromatherapy industry. After the extraction of oil, the roots are disposed of as waste. The central objective of this research was to explore the conversion of this waste into a resource using a circular economy framework. To generate biochar, vetiver roots were pyrolyzed at different temperatures (300, 500, and 700 °C) and residence times (30, 60, and 120 min). Analysis showed the root biochar generated at 500 °C and held for 60 min had the highest surface area of 308.15 m2/g and a yield of 53.76%, in addition to …

Radiation Force Modeling For A Wave Energy Converter Array, Salman Husain, Gordon Parker, David Forehand, Enrico Anderlini

Michigan Tech Publications

The motivation and focus of this work is to generate passive transfer function matrices that model the radiation forces for an array of WECs. Multivariable control design is often based on linear time-invariant (LTI) systems such as state-space or transfer function matrix models. The intended use is for designing real-time control strategies where knowledge of the model’s poles and zeros is helpful. This work presents a passivity-based approach to estimate radiation force transfer functions that accurately replace the convolution operation in the Cummins equation while preserving the physical properties of the radiation function. A two-stage numerical optimization approach is used, …

Data To Physics: Bridging Modeling Frameworks For Metastructures, Hrishikesh Suhas Gosavi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The effective attenuation of wave propagation in specific frequency ranges, known as bandgaps, makes metastructures valuable in various engineering applications. Traditionally, bandgap estimation has relied on physics-based models, which present challenges for complex metastructures where accurate material properties and geometric complexities make precise modeling difficult. This work introduces data-driven techniques for bandgap estimation, leveraging the dynamic behavior, particularly the Frequency Response Functions (FRFs) of unit cells, to calculate dispersion relations and couple unit cells through dynamic substructuring. This approach addresses the limitations of traditional methods by directly utilizing experimental data to characterize both longitudinal and flexural bandgaps.

To evaluate data-driven …

Statically Controlled Synchronized Lane Architectures, Scott K. Pomerville

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Modern superscalar processors dominate the field of computing. While dynamic execution allows for versatility in code, these processors are complex. Statically scheduled code has historically enabled simpler processor designs, but static scheduling cannot account for variables that are unknown at compile time. Furthermore, static scheduling has many inefficiencies, such as the need to insert a large number of nops for code in traditional Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) processors. In this dissertation, we explore a novel architectural approach for statically scheduled code by breaking the code into several synchronous instruction streams. By representing code in a fundamentally new way, we …

Electrification Of A Heavy-Duty Off-Road Material Handler: Energy Savings And Emission Reductions, Bryant Goodenough

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Federal regulations are driving the adoption of electrification technologies to reduce carbon dioxide equivalent (CO₂e) emissions, a metric that quantifies the global warming potential of various greenhouse gases in terms of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Although no specific CO₂ regulations exist for heavy-duty off-road machines, future reductions are likely, given stricter emissions standards for on-road vehicles. The heavy-duty off-road sector offers significant fuel-saving potential, as its focus has traditionally been on reliability and performance rather than fuel efficiency. This dissertation examines fuel and CO₂e savings opportunities on a heavy-duty off-road material handler, the Pettibone …

Recycling Waste Plastics From E-Waste And Household Sources For Sustainable Asphalt Construction, Sepehr Mohammadi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The generation of waste plastics is continuing to grow year after year which can also provide valuable opportunities for researchers in different areas to find new applications that will eliminate their potential risks to environment and human health. For instance, in 2022 alone, global plastic production was increased to a remarkable 400.3 million metric tons, showing a 1.6 percent rise from 2021. Another notable example is the waste plastics from electronic waste (e-waste) sources which constitute up to 20% of e-waste streams. The advancement of global economies and technology has resulted in a notable increment of the volume of electronics …

Assessment Of Surface Waviness In A Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing Process, Shammas Mahmood Shafi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) is increasingly recognized for its ability to produce metal components with high deposition rates and efficiency, particularly in the aerospace and automotive sectors. However, one significant challenge that WAAM faces is achieving surface quality that complies with industry standards, as well as creating geometries that closely resemble the initial design. A crucial factor contributing to this challenge is surface waviness, which is an inherent characteristic of the WAAM process. This waviness arises from the geometry of the weld beads and the overlap distance between them. It can adversely affect the fusion quality of successive layers, …

Interplay Of Discharge Rates, Slope, And Sediment Size In River Meandering Dynamics: Insights From Experimental Studies, Yifan Zhang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Sinuosity is an important concept in various fields including hydrology, geomorphology, and ecology. It not only presents the degree of curviness of a river channel but also reflects the ecological sustaining ability. By studying the sinuosity of a stream or river channel, important implications could also be found including the transportation and deposition of the sediments, the habitats of the riverbanks, and the types of species that are able to live on the watershed and river. To study the factors that could heavily affect the sinuosity of a river channel, a full set of laboratory experiments was designed to perform …

Implementing Associative Learning Using Neuromorphic Robot, Vinay Kumar Pillalamarri

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Associative learning, a key cognitive process seen across the animal kingdom, enables organisms to form connections between stimuli and adapt their behaviors based on past experiences. A particularly powerful example is fear conditioning, where animals learn to associate a neutral stimulus with an aversive one, allowing them to predict and avoid potential threats. Inspired by this mechanism, this project implements associative learning on an unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) to develop adaptive behavior through neuromorphic principles. Utilizing Nengo for neural modeling, the UGV learns to associate visual (red color) and tactile (vibration) stimuli through Hebbian learning, a biologically inspired synaptic adaptation …

Computational Analysis Of Vascular Aneurysms, Seyedmostafa Rezaeitaleshmahalleh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Vascular aneurysms, such as intracranial aneurysms (IAs) and abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs), pose significant health risks, particularly upon rupture. Disturbed hemodynamics, characterized by swirling flow patterns, can lead to cellular and structural changes that disrupt normal physiological processes and contribute to destructive vascular remodeling. Integrating hemodynamic analysis into clinical assessments of aneurysms has become crucial, especially through patient-specific computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations based on medical imaging. However, the complexity of CFD tools presents challenges in model creation and post-simulation analysis, limiting their accessibility to clinicians.
This project aimed to advance aneurysm management by exploring the role of intraluminal thrombus …

Investigation Of Operational Parameter Differences Between The Standard Ron Test Method And Knock-Limited Modern Spark-Ignition Engine Operation, Alexander Hoth

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Octane numbers (ONs) are used worldwide to rate the knock propensity of gasoline-like fuels for spark-ignition engines, making ONs the leading indicator of fuel quality for commercial distribution. The ONs were established 90 years ago and have only received minor changes compared to significant advancements in modern engine operation and fuel composition. This has resulted in discrepancies between knock-limited modern engine operation and standard ON ratings. This dissertation used a standard CFR octane rating engine at Argonne National Laboratory that was instrumented with modern combustion research tools to investigate key differences between the Research Octane Number (RON) rating conditions and …

Wet-Carbonation Of Rcas For Improved Carbonation Efficiency And Mechanical Properties Of Rca And Recycled Concrete, Zhao. Xiang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

RCA typically exhibits weak interfacial transition zones (ITZ), high porosity, and micro-cracks due to residual mortar layers, resulting in suboptimal performance when reused in structural applications. To address these challenges, this study developed a wet carbonation process using glycine acid as an inducer. Glycine acid, containing carboxyl and amino functional groups, forms stable complexes with Ca²⁺ ions in RCA, increasing calcium ion solubility and thereby accelerating carbonation. RCA samples underwent carbonation in a glycine acid solution, followed by characterization using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy to evaluate mineralogical transformations and microstructural enhancements. The carbonation process promoted the formation of …

Nickel Superalloy Composition And Process Optimization For Weldability, Cost, And Strength, Sophie A. Mehl

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To advance sustainability efforts, electric power plants have reduced specific carbon dioxide emissions by increasing operating temperatures and pressures to improve power generation efficiency. The latest improvements are utilized in advanced ultra-supercritical power generation. To meet these operating conditions, nickel superalloys are used in the highest temperature components; however, they are expensive and present weldability challenges. This project aims to experimentally optimize a nickel superalloy to improve material weldability and decrease cost without compromising strength. Three optimized compositions were developed, and their microstructures and mechanical properties were compared to Nimonic 263, a common nickel superalloy in electric power plants. The …